If you have sampled the traditional sweets of Japan, you might have been surprised how different the tastes – and ingredients that include sweet potatoes, sweet beans and rice - are from Western sweets.

These donuts are fun to make anytime of the year.

If you ask me, taco rice is the kind of food that is hard not to like. Since it was invented in 1984 by Matsuo Gibo, who owned fast-food joint Parlor Senri near Camp Hansen, taco rice has grown to be one of the most beloved tastes of Okinawa.

Kashi pan or “菓子パン” is a word that means “snack bread” in Japanese. Listed below are some of the Okinawan breads that I have been familiar with since my childhood.

Chinpin is an Okinawan sweet often described as a pancake or crepe flavored with brown sugar.